From Idea to Launch: A hands-on entrepreneurship and innovation course

Are you an early-stage owner or side-hustler who wants stronger foundations under something you have begun? Are you an intrapreneur championing new products, services, or ways of working inside a company, nonprofit, or agency? Are you a working professional, career-changer, or lifelong learner curious about innovation and how ventures get built?

9 weekly sessions, 90 minutes each, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Central / 7:30 – 9 p.m. Eastern / 4:30 – 6 p.m.

Pacific Session 1: Monday, January 11 Session 2: Monday, January 18 Session 3: Monday, January 25 Session 4: Monday, February 1 Session 5: Monday, February 8 Session 6: Monday, February 15 Session 7: Monday, February 22 Session 8: Monday, March 1 Session 9: Monday, March 8 Cost: General Public $375 / NCSML Members $297.50 This course is limited to 22 participants, registration is required. [vc_custom_heading text=”About the Instructors”] Andrea Hrusovska, MBA, is a Slovak-American entrepreneur, human capital executive, author, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. She is the founder and CEO of HR4U Solutions, a consulting and executive search firm she established in Slovakia in 2014 and expanded to the United States in 2022. Andrea specializes in workforce strategy for advanced manufacturing, engineering, and AI-driven technology companies, helping organizations design human capital systems, build leadership teams, and identify and place senior executive talent.

She is also the author of the bestselling book Born to Be Successful , reflecting her passion for leadership development and preparing the next generation for the careers of the future. She is actively engaged in building bridges between the United States and Europe across business, academia, and innovation. She has collaborated with the Slovak government on initiatives at SXSW, spearheaded Slovak House in Austin, and co-founded DRON8, an Austin-based platform connecting leaders across defense and dual-use technology, autonomous systems, investment, government, academia, and research.

Across her work, Andrea brings together entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, and transatlantic collaboration, with a particular focus on creating opportunities for the next generation by connecting talent, education, industry, and innovation. Brano Vargic is not teaching entrepreneurship from a case study. He is doing it now.

He is Founder and CEO of Talent Square, a Grand Rapids technology company he is currently building and financing, and he advises the Slovak brand Be Lenka on its expansion into the United States. Behind that sit twenty-five years of operating experience across Europe, Southeast Asia and North America: P&L responsibility in banking, consumer finance, life insurance and manufacturing, large operations, M&A integrations, and companies he founded and sold. He is a visiting professor at Grand Valley State University.

The course follows the same logic. It covers the decisions an entrepreneur actually faces: how to test an idea before spending money on it, what makes a customer say yes, and what separates a business that launches from one that stays an idea. Niko Dubovsky is a Slovak-American entrepreneur and community leader based in Chicago, Illinois.

As a member of the working group developing the Lifelong Learning initiative at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, he contributes to program strategy, partnership development, coordination, and the creation of a sustainable model for educational and cultural programming. Niko also serves as a chapter co-lead of Slovak PRO Chicago, a nonprofit organization supporting cultural and professional connections within the Slovak community. He is the co-founder of SuperCity AI and its affiliated educational nonprofit, SuperForce AI.

His work reflects a commitment to connecting Slovak and Czech heritage with innovation, practical learning, professional development, and meaningful engagement across generations and diaspora communities. Register Here